Matthew Reid / mreid@wickedlocal.com Posted May. 23, 2013 @ 12:01 am Updated May 23, 2013 at 11:19 PM
Stoneham
Jarrod Clowery can still recall with vivid detail the scene on Boylston Street when two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. He remembers hearing the first boom, he remembers the exact position he was in while hoping a barricade when the second bomb went off, and he remembers thinking to himself that the friends he was with were all dead. But when recalling the memories of the day, he chooses to concentrate more on the positives.
“We can’t forget what happened that day, and the less we talk about terrorism and the more we focus on all the good that has come out of it, the better we will all be,” Clowery said.
Clowery was in Stoneham Square last Sunday morning to send off Bill McCabe, a fellow Stoneham resident and experienced marathoner. McCabe was about to board a bus headed for Hopkinton, where he would re-run the same marathon route he ran back on April 15. This time he was doing it as part of a fundraiser for the Stoneham marathon victims.
“To see all of this and to see the way people are coming together, it’s just amazing,” Clowery said. “I really think there has been a ripple effect of goodness since this all happened. One terrible moment brought out the worst in humanity, but it has been followed by so much goodness and love.”
For Clowery, those moments of goodness started immediately after the bombing ended and the chaos and confusion began.
“The people who responded in those first few moments were the real heroes,” he said. “They didn’t even blink. They just did what they needed to do to save lives. I feel blessed to have been around so many incredible people.”
Clowery was told by authorities that he may have been the closest person to the second bomb who survived, which makes him feel even more fortunate.
“Another six inches over and I could have been on dialysis for the rest of my life, or dead completely,” he said. “You can’t go through something like that and not come away with a whole new outlook on life.”
He decided that he was going to make every effort to give back to those who risked their lives that day by telling their stories and giving them the recognition they deserve.
“The two who are responsible for all of this have been getting their names out there ever since it happened, but what about the guy who held my friend’s arteries shut?” he said. “Where is the story about that guy? Who is he and what does he do? We need to show the world who the real heroes are.”
He said Massachusetts could be a blueprint for the rest of the world when it comes to dealing with situations like this. He has already contacted local schools in town about speaking to the children of Stoneham, and is even scheduled to give an online “press conference” with kids in a school in Oklahoma who have raised money for victims.
https://www.facebook.com/CBSBoston/posts/10151951420102010
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2013/11/03/stoneham-man-running-nyc-marathon-for-hometown-survivors/
Matthew Reid / mreid@wickedlocal.com
Posted May. 23, 2013 @ 12:01 am
Updated May 23, 2013 at 11:19 PM
Stoneham
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2013/1102/Road-to-the-NYC-Marathon-Runners-tell-their-stories
http://www.stonehamstrong5k.com